The ballots are in. Votes have been counted, and the killer whale calf known in the scientific realm as L-119 has a new name. Oh, Joy.

The competition was close. But with more than 2,500 votes were cast in The Friday Harbor Whale Museum’s most recent naming contest, in which Joy edged out the pack by roughly 100 votes.

Entry into the museum’s naming contest means that Joy, or L-119, survived its first winter and will be entered into the museum’s Orca Adoption Program. Launched in 1984, the program seeks to create a bond between people and the Southern resident killer whales by giving each newborn calf a name, a history and thereby an opportunity to better understand the complex social relationships that exists within the killer whale community.

Find out more about the Whale Museum, the orca adoption program and read about Joy and its family on the museum “Meet the Whale” pages at, www.whalemuseum.org